Several Western countries have suspended aid to UNWRA, a move criticised by Palestinians and top UN officials.
- Several countries, including the US, are reviewing funding to Palestinian refugees’ agency UNRWA after Israel alleged some of its staff were involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
- Top Palestinian officials and Hamas have criticised the decision to cut the funding by nearly a dozen Western countries.
- Defunding UNRWA could be “violating” the Genocide Convention, said UNWRA’s head Philippe Lazzarini. “Palestinians in Gaza did not need this additional collective punishment,” he wrote on X. “This stains all of us.”
- United Nations Secretary Secretary-General Antonio Guterres vowed on Sunday to hold to account “any UN employee involved in acts of terror. But he implored donor states to “guarantee the continuity” of UNRWA operations. “The tens of thousands of men and women who work for UNRWA, many in some of the most dangerous situations for humanitarian workers, should not be penalized. The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met,” he said.
- Ireland and Norway have said they will continue to fund the agency.
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